Poverty, War in Central America Send Illegals North

The Hernandez brothers, Manuel and Juan Antonio, left El Salvador a month ago to find work in Los Angeles. After crossing two international borders, after being robbed of all their belongings at gunpoint by a thief in Mexico and after a harrowing two-week trip, penniless, on freight trains headed north, they arrived at the border.

Now they are contemplating their next hurdle: the U.S.-Mexico border.

“We hear there’s a lot of work in Los Angeles,” said the indefatigable and ever-upbeat Manuel Hernandez, who was staying at a church-run shelter here last week, along with his brother.

Soon, the two will join the increasing numbers of Central Americans who have been trying to enter the United States illegally, apparently unfazed by the 1986 immigration-law revisions that were designed to stifle such movement.

Arrest statistics of the Border Patrol in California and Texas indicate a recent surge of Central Americans at the border, particularly Salvadorans, who are fleeing poverty and growing political unrest and violence in their homelands. Arrests of Mexican nationals, who represent the great majority of those apprehended, have also risen substantially this year, but at a far slower rate than arrests of Central Americans.

No one knows how many people attempt to cross the border illegally. But the Border Patrol arrest statistics, although subject to fluctuations because of patrol staffing, weather and other factors, are nonetheless considered the single best indicator.

In San Diego, gateway to the thriving job market of Los Angeles, and elsewhere in California, agents arrested almost 4,000 citizens of El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras--the four principal Central American “sending” nations--from January to May. That more than doubles the numbers arrested during the same period in 1987, when arrests declined drastically.

By contrast, agents recorded 200,000 arrests of Mexicans during the first five months of 1988, an increase of about 20% over last year.

In the Texas Rio Grande Valley, another favorite entry point for Central Americans, Border Patrol officials report similar increases. In the March-May 1988 period, agents based in McAllen, Tex. arrested 2,451 nationals from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, doubling the numbers arrested during those three months last year.

Unlike Mexican nationals, most of whom opt for quick returns to Mexico once arrested, Central Americans are often held for lengthy periods, at substantial cost, in crowded holding facilities such as the immigration service detention center in El Centro, until their cases are decided or they post bail.

Despite the upswing in arrests, the figures remain substantially below the record numbers of Central Americans, Mexicans and others arrested during 1986. Those numbers led to the passage of the sweeping immigration law revisions of 1986, which, among other things, attempted to reduce the job market by imposing criminal sanctions on U.S. employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens. Now, it would appear, fear of the law is abating, as reports of mass deportations have proved to be exaggerated, and people learn how to circumvent the statute’s requirements, by use of false documents or other means.

“They have found that there are jobs here, so they’re willing to pay travel expenses, to pay smugglers to come here, especially the Central Americans,” said Harold Ezell, Western regional commissioner for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Added David Trevino, a supervisory intelligence officer with the Border Patrol in McAllen, “They’re not sure yet if the law’s got any backbone.”

Nonetheless, U.S. authorities say it is too early to conclude that the law is failing to restrict illegal immigration. Officials note that several key components--such as a one-third increase in Border Patrol staffing and criminal sanctions against farmers who hire illegal aliens--have yet to kick in.

“The foundations are there to have a very good and effective law,” said Dale Cozart, chief Border Patrol agent in San Diego.

Ignorant of the Law

However effective the law, many would-be immigrants, particularly Central Americans, appear completely in the dark about it, despite extensive publicity south of the border. “I heard that all you need to get around that is a letter,” said one Salvadoran here, reflecting a typical understanding of the law.

But, even if knowledge of the law were more widespread, many observers believe, its provisions are unlikely to deter large numbers of Central Americans because many of whom are fleeing political persecution and are not solely motivated by economic factors.

“If people are coming here literally to seek safe haven, then economic measures aren’t necessarily going to work,” said Kitty Calavita, an immigration law specialist at the UC San Diego Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies.

The recent upsurge in Central Americans at the border, everyone agrees, can be attributed to two factors: the continued economic decline and the recent resurgence of violence in Central America, particularly in El Salvador and Guatemala.

“We’ve come here looking for work,” said Carlos Alfredo Rivas, 26, a laborer who was staying at a shelter here along with his friend and countryman, Mario Rodriguez, 27. Both are from the El Salvadoran department of Santa Ana, northwest of the capital of San Salvador. The continued war, they said, has drained their region’s economy.

Like many Central Americans, the two said they had stopped off in Mexico City to work and earn some cash before proceeding to the border. Now employed by car-wash businesses in Tijuana, the two say they are now undecided about whether to attempt the arduous crossing into the United States, or simply return to Mexico City.

“They say it’s not easy to cross now,” said Rivas, an introspective, soft-spoken man wearing faded shredding jeans.

Many Central Americans use Tijuana as an area to regroup, earn some money and scout the border area while preparing for the final leg of their journey. A religious worker told of a 30-year-old Guatemalan, a recent arrival in San Diego, whose wife and four young children remained in Tijuana while he crossed the border on his own, rehearsing the trip that the entire family would undertake shortly.

Most Central Americans who elude arrest pass quickly through San Diego and other border areas, seeking to reach larger urban centers such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, where many have relatives, where their large numbers provide relative safety and where there are smaller contingents of enforcement agents. However, the Central Americans’ increased presence has certainly not gone unnoticed in San Diego and other border areas.

“The number of refugees whom we’ve assisted has quadrupled since last May,” said Carol Conger-Cross, coordinator with the San Diego Interfaith Task Force on Central America, a nonprofit volunteer group. She attributes the rise partly to the recent increase in undocumented arrivals and the task force’s greater visibility and outreach. “As the wars grind on,” she noted, “the economic situation doesn’t get any better.”

In Los Angeles, one of the principal magnets for Central Americans, social workers note that the recent influx comes at a time when unemployment, underemployment and homelessness are growing rapidly among immigrants. They are encountering greater difficulty finding work, as many employers are at least abiding by the letter of the new law that requires them to ask workers for proof of legal status.

“There is misery here; people can’t find jobs as easily, they sleep under the freeways and outdoors, in the streets” said Haydee Sanchez, a paralegal with El Rescate, the Los Angeles social agency. “But still they feel that it is worth the risk to come to the United States.”

In just a few years, Sanchez noted, the price of a pound of beans, a staple throughout Latin America, has increased tenfold in El Salvador--from about 10 U.S. cents to almost a dollar. As in Mexico, wages have not kept up with the price increases. “What alternative do people have?” Sanchez asked.

Central Americans interviewed in Tijuana, en route to the United States, agreed with that assessment. Apart from economic problems, many stressed political problems and a strong desire not to fight, either on the side of the guerrillas or the armed forces.

“Where we come from, in the countryside, the guerrillas are very strong,” said Manuel Edgardo Hernandez, 18, who, along with his brother Juan Antonio, 21, last month left their rural home in the department of Ahuachapan, in southwestern El Salvador. Nine brothers and sisters remain back home, hoping to receive checks soon from their brothers in El Norte.

“They (the guerrillas) come to recruit,” added Manuel, an animated, young man with a big smile and prominent features who was seated in the kitchen of the church-run shelter here. “If you don’t want to join, you could have problems.”

The two men have had an eventful journey. After crossing the Rio Suchiate, separating Guatemala from Mexico, they said, they were robbed of all their belongings, including clothing and $240 in savings, by a plainclothes pistolero, a man they assumed was a Mexican police officer. Central Americans frequently report such extortions and robberies while traveling in Mexico, where they are themselves undocumented.

Undaunted, the two men proceeded, walking and catching freight trains to the north, huddling together for warmth in the evenings and relying on the charity of people they met along the way, many of whom would give them food or change to buy something to eat. After a two-week trip through Mexico, they plan to set out soon for Los Angeles, where they have an uncle, and dream of finding relatively well-paying work, saving money for a few years, then returning home, perhaps modestly prosperous.

“There’s work in El Salvador, but it hardly pays a man enough to eat,” said Juan Antonio, in a comment echoed by many. “We’ll see how life is in Los Angeles. We hope it’s better.”